Additive friend suggestion for account security

ABSTRACT

Systems, methods, devices, instructions, and media are described for generating suggestions for connections between accounts in a social media system. One embodiment involves storing connection graph information for a plurality of user accounts, and identifying, by one or more processors of the device, a first set of connection suggestions based on a first set of suggestion metrics. A second set of connection suggestions is then identified based on a second set of suggestion metrics, wherein the second set of connection suggestions and the second set of suggestion metrics are configured to obscure the first set of connection suggestions, and a set of suggested connections is generated based on the first set of connection suggestions and the second set of connection suggestions. The set of connection suggestions is then communicated to a client device method associated with the first account.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.16/457,446, filed Jun. 28, 2019, which application claims priority toU.S. Provisional Application No. 62/692,489, filed Jun. 29, 2018, andentitled “ADDITIVE FRIEND SUGGESTION.” The contents of this priorapplication are considered part of this application and are herebyincorporated by reference in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure generally relates to facilitating electroniccommunication between users. In particular, example embodiments of thepresent disclosure address systems, methods, and user interfaces tofacilitate communication between users via multiple modes of electroniccommunication.

BACKGROUND

A content sharing platform may receive millions of messages from usersdesiring to share media content such as audio, images, and video betweenuser devices (e.g., mobile devices, personal computers, etc.) The mediacontent of these messages may be shared with accounts associated withthe sharing account, and allow users to exchange messages with oneanother. These applications often provide a graphical interface fromwhich a user can send and receive text-based messages exchanged as partof an electronic conversation with other users. Often these applicationsrun on mobile and other electronic devices that are capable offacilitating other modes of electronic communication such as voice orvideo calling. Connections between may be based on user approval, andvarious methods are available for presenting and confirming suchapprovals to create connections between accounts in a network.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Various ones of the appended drawings merely illustrate exampleembodiments of the present disclosure and should not be considered aslimiting its scope.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example messaging system forexchanging data (e.g., messages and associated content) over a network,according to some example embodiments.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating further details regarding themessaging system, according to some example embodiments.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating data which may be stored in adatabase of a messaging server system, including connection graphinformation, according to some example embodiments.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating a structure of a message,according to some embodiments, generated by a messaging clientapplication for communication.

FIGS. 5A and 5B illustrate aspects of a user interface for connectioninformation from a connection graph in association with someembodiments.

FIG. 6 illustrates aspects of a user interface for connection suggestioninformation from a connection graph in association with someembodiments.

FIG. 7 illustrates aspects of connection suggestion information and anassociated portion of a connection graph in accordance with someembodiments.

FIG. 8 illustrates aspects of connection suggestion information and anassociated portion of a connection graph in accordance with someembodiments.

FIG. 9 illustrates an example method in accordance with someembodiments.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a softwarearchitecture that may be installed on a machine, according to someexample embodiments.

FIG. 11 illustrates a diagrammatic representation of a machine, in theform of a computer system, within which a set of instructions may beexecuted for causing the machine to perform any one or more of themethodologies discussed herein, according to an example embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Systems and methods described herein relate to systems, methods,devices, and instructions stored in device memory for friend suggestioninventory generation for improved security and prevention of attacks bymalicious accounts. This includes systems for presenting information toa user, and systems and methods within such an interface or supportingsuch an interface for presenting suggestions for new connections withother user accounts within a system in a way that protects the privacyof various users. The description that follows includes systems,methods, techniques, instruction sequences, and computing machineprogram products that embody illustrative embodiments of the disclosure.In the following description, for the purposes of explanation, numerousspecific details are set forth in order to provide an understanding ofvarious embodiments of the inventive subject matter. It will be evident,however, to those skilled in the art, that embodiments of the inventivesubject matter may be practiced without these specific details. Ingeneral, well-known instruction instances, protocols, structures, andtechniques are not necessarily shown in detail.

Online social networks attract attacks and exploits in various fashions.In some such attacks, attackers control accounts which may either befake or compromised real accounts. If an attacker has a sufficientlylarge number of such accounts, the accounts may be used to gatherinformation that is not intended to be shared. One type of attack mayuse large numbers of accounts with friend suggestion data to create alarge-scale leakage of connections between users. In particular, if anattacker is able to infer a particular connection between users based onthe fact of a suggested connection, with sufficient numbers of accountsand connections a large amount of connection information within a socialnetwork may be gained by the attacker. Embodiments described hereininclude randomized or “noisy” suggestions to prevent attackers fromdirectly inferring connection graph information. Additional details ofvarious embodiments are described below.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a networked system 100 (e.g., amessaging system) for exchanging data (e.g., messages and associatedcontent) over a network. The networked system 100 includes multipleclient devices 110, each of which hosts a number of client applications114. Each client application 114 is communicatively coupled to otherinstances of the client application 114 and a server system 108 via anetwork 104.

The client device 110 may comprise, but is not limited to, a mobilephone, desktop computer, laptop, portable digital assistant (PDA), smartphone, tablet, ultrabook, netbook, laptop, multi-processor system,microprocessor-based or programmable consumer electronic system, gameconsole, set-top box, computer in a vehicle, wearable device, or anyother communication device that a user may utilize to access thenetworked system 100. In some embodiments, the client device 110 maycomprise a display module (not shown) to display information (e.g., inthe form of user interfaces). In further embodiments, the client device110 may comprise one or more of touch screens, accelerometers,gyroscopes, cameras, microphones, global positioning system (GPS)devices, and so forth.

The client device 110 may be a device of a user that is used to createmedia content items such as video, images (e.g., photographs), andaudio, and to send and receive messages containing such media contentitems, text, and so forth, to and from other users. The client device110 may be a device of a user that is used to create and edit mediaoverlays, view and generate messages, and so forth. As described in moredetail below, client devices can be associated with a particular useraccount, and can receive suggestions from a social network system 122for possible connections with other user accounts in the social networksystem. In accordance with various embodiments described herein, noisysuggestions can be made to prevent the use of connection suggestioninformation being used to determine or infer non-public informationabout a user account.

One or more users may be a person, a machine, or other means ofinteracting with the client device 110. In example embodiments, the usermay not be part of the system 100, but may interact with the system 100via the client device 110 or other means. For instance, the user mayprovide input (e.g., touch screen input or alphanumeric input) to theclient device 110, and the input may be communicated to other entitiesin the system 100 (e.g., third party servers, server system 108, etc.)via a network 104. In this instance, the other entities in the system100, in response to receiving the input from the user, may communicateinformation to the client device 110 via the network 104 to be presentedto the user. In this way, the user may interact with the variousentities in the system 100 using the client device 110. As part of suchoperations, a system may maintain a list of connections between usersthat communicate regularly, or users that have indicated a connectionvia inputs to the network (e.g. a “friend” connection.)

The system 100 may further include a network 104. One or more portionsof the network 104 may be an ad hoc network, an intranet, an extranet, avirtual private network (VPN), a local area network (LAN), a wirelessLAN (WLAN), a wide area network (WAN), a wireless WAN (WWAN), ametropolitan area network (MAN), a portion of the Internet, a portion ofthe public switched telephone network (PSTN), a cellular telephonenetwork, a wireless network, a WI-FI network, a WiMax network, anothertype of network, or a combination of two or more such networks.

The client device 110 may access the various data and applicationsprovided by other entities in the system 100 via a web client (e.g., abrowser, such as the Internet Explorer® browser developed by Microsoft®Corporation of Redmond, Wash. State) or one or more client applications114. The client device 110 may include one or more client applications114 (also referred to as “apps”) such as, but not limited to, a webbrowser, a messaging application, an electronic mail (email)application, an e-commerce site application, a mapping or locationapplication, a media overlay application, and the like.

In some embodiments, one or more client applications 114 may be includedin a given one of the client devices 110, and configured to locallyprovide the user interface and at least some of the functionalities,with the client application 114 configured to communicate with otherentities in the system 100 (e.g., third party servers, server system108, etc.), on an as-needed basis, for data and/or processingcapabilities not locally available (e.g., to process user queries, toauthenticate a user, to verify a method of payment, etc.). Conversely,one or more client applications 114 may not be included in the clientdevice 110, and then the client device 110 may use its web browser toaccess the one or more applications hosted on other entities in thesystem 100 (e.g., third party servers, server system 108, etc.).

In one example, a client application 114 may be a messaging applicationthat allows a user to take a photograph or video, add a caption orotherwise edit the photograph or video, and then send the photograph orvideo to another user. In one example, the message may be ephemeral andbe removed from a receiving user device after viewing or after apredetermined amount of time (e.g., 10 seconds, 24 hours, etc.). Anephemeral message refers to a message that is accessible for atime-limited duration. An ephemeral message may be a text, an image, avideo, and other such content that may be stitched together inaccordance with embodiments described herein. The access time for theephemeral message may be set by the message sender. Alternatively, theaccess time may be a default setting or a setting specified by therecipient. Regardless of the setting technique, the message istransitory.

The messaging application may further allow a user to create a galleryor message collection. A gallery may be a collection of photos andvideos which may be viewed by other users “following” the user's gallery(e.g., subscribed to view and receive updates in the user's gallery). Inone example, the gallery may also be ephemeral (e.g., lasting 24 hours,lasting for a duration of an event (e.g., during a music concert,sporting event, etc.), or lasting another predetermined time).

An ephemeral message may be associated with a message durationparameter, the value of which determines an amount of time that theephemeral message will be displayed to a receiving user of the ephemeralmessage by the client application 114. The ephemeral message may befurther associated with a message receiver identifier and a messagetimer. The message timer may be responsible for determining the amountof time the ephemeral message is shown to a particular receiving useridentified by the message receiver identifier. For example, theephemeral message may only be shown to the relevant receiving user for atime period determined by the value of the message duration parameter.

In another example, the messaging application may allow a user to storephotographs and videos and create a gallery that is not ephemeral andthat can be sent to other users. For example, a user may assemblephotographs and videos from a recent vacation to share with friends andfamily.

The server system 108 may provide server-side functionality via thenetwork 104 (e.g., the Internet or a wide area network (WAN)) to one ormore client devices 110 and/or one or more third party servers (notshown). The server system 108 may include an application programminginterface (API) server 102, an application server 112, a messagingapplication server 116, a media content processing system 118, and asocial network system 122, which may each be communicatively coupledwith each other and with one or more data storage(s), such asdatabase(s) 120.

The server system 108 may be a cloud computing environment, according tosome example embodiments. The server system 108, and any serversassociated with the server system 108, may be associated with acloud-based application, in one example embodiment.

The one or more database(s) 120 may be storage devices that storeinformation such as untreated media content, original media content fromusers (e.g., high-quality media content), processed media content (e.g.,media content that is formatted for sharing with client devices 110 andviewing on client devices 110), context data related to a media contentitem, context data related to a user device (e.g., computing or clientdevice 110), media overlays, media overlay smart widgets or smartelements, user data, user device information, media content (e.g., videoand images), media content data (e.g., data associated with video andimages), computing device context data, serialized data, session dataitems, and so forth. The one or more databases 120 may further storeinformation related to third party servers, third party applications,client devices 110, client applications 114, users, and so forth.

The one or more database(s) 120 may include cloud-based storage externalto the server system 108 (e.g., hosted by one or more third-partyentities external to the server system 108). While the storage devicesare shown as database(s) 120, it is to be understood that the system 100may access and store data in storage devices such as databases 120, blobstorages, and other types of storage methods.

As described above, databases 120 can include account information,including information about connections between user accounts, andinformation that can be used to communicate suggestions on additionalpossible connections that are suggested to a user via a user's clientdevice. Embodiments described herein access such information fromsources such as databases 120, and use noisy filters to make suggestionson connections between accounts in a way that prevents inference ofother user's social graphs within the social network system.

The system 100 may further include one or more third party servers (notshown). The one or more third party servers may include one or morethird party application(s). The one or more third party application(s),executing on the third party server(s), may interact with the serversystem 108 via API server 102 via a programmatic interface provided bythe API server 102. For example, one or more of the third partyapplications may request and utilize information from the server system108 via the API server 102 to support one or more features or functionson a website hosted by the third party or an application hosted by thethird party. The third party website or application, for example, mayprovide functionality that is supported by relevant functionality anddata in the server system 108.

Accordingly, each client application 114 is able to communicate andexchange data with other client applications 114 and with the serversystem 108 via the network 104. The data exchanged between clientapplications 114, and between a client application 114 and the serversystem 108, includes functions (e.g., commands to invoke functions) aswell as payload data (e.g., text, audio, video, or other multimediadata).

The server system 108 provides server-side functionality via the network104 to a particular client application 114. While certain functions ofthe system 100 are described herein as being performed by either aclient application 114 or by the server system 108, it will beappreciated that the location of certain functionality either within theclient application 114 or within the server system 108 is a designchoice. For example, it may be technically preferable to initiallydeploy certain technology and functionality within the server system108, but to later migrate this technology and functionality to theclient application 114 where a client device 110 has a sufficientprocessing capacity.

The server system 108 supports various services and operations that areprovided to the client application 114. Such operations includetransmitting data to, receiving data from, and processing data generatedby the client application 114. This data may include message content,client device information, geolocation information, media annotation andoverlays, message content persistence conditions, social networkinformation, live event information, date and time stamps, media content(e.g., video and images), and media content data (e.g., data associatedwith video and images), as examples. Data exchanges within the networkedsystem 100 are invoked and controlled through functions available viauser interfaces (UIs) of the client application 114.

In the server system 108, the API server 110 is coupled to, and providesa programmatic interface to, the application server 112. The applicationserver 112 is communicatively coupled to a database server 124, whichfacilitates access to the one or more database(s) 120 in which is storeddata associated with messages processed by the application server 112.

The API server 102 receives and transmits message data (e.g., commandsand message payloads) between the client device 110 and the applicationserver 112. Specifically, the API server 102 provides a set ofinterfaces (e.g., routines and protocols) that can be called or queriedby the client application 114 in order to invoke functionality of theapplication server 112. The API server 102 exposes various functionssupported by the application server 112, including account registration;login functionality; the sending of messages, via the application server112, from a particular client application 114 to another clientapplication 114; the sending of media files (e.g., images or video) froma client application 114 to the messaging application server 116, forpossible access by another client application 114; the setting of acollection of media data (e.g., a gallery, story, message collection, ormedia collection); the retrieval of a list of friends of a user of aclient device 110; the retrieval of such collections; the retrieval ofmessages and content; the adding of friends to and deletion of friendsfrom a social graph; the location of friends within a social graph;opening an application event (e.g., relating to the client application114); and so forth.

The application server 112 hosts a number of applications andsubsystems, including the messaging application server 116, the mediacontent processing system 118, and the social network system 122. Themessaging application server 116 implements a number of messageprocessing technologies and functions, particularly related to theaggregation and other processing of content (e.g., textual andmultimedia content) included in messages received from multipleinstances of the client application 114. The text and media content frommultiple sources may be aggregated into collections of content (e.g.,called stories, galleries, or media collections). These collections arethen made available, by the messaging application server 116, to theclient application 114. Other processor- and memory-intensive processingof data may also be performed server-side by the messaging applicationserver 116, in view of the hardware requirements for such processing.

The application server 112 also includes the media content processingsystem 118, which is dedicated to performing various media contentprocessing operations, typically with respect to images or videoreceived within the payload of a message at the messaging applicationserver 116. The media content processing system 118 may access one ormore data storages (e.g., database(s) 120) to retrieve stored data touse in processing media content and to store results of processed mediacontent.

The social network system 122 supports various social networkingfunctions and services, and makes these functions and services availableto the messaging application server 116. To this end, the social networksystem 122 maintains and accesses an entity graph 304 (depicted in FIG.3 ) within the database 120. Examples of functions and servicessupported by the social network system 122 include the identification ofother users of the networked system 100 with whom a particular user hasrelationships or whom the particular user is “following,” and also theidentification of other entities and interests of a particular user. Theassociations or relationships may be referred to as “connections”,“friend connections”, “follower connections” or any other suchrelationship or connection identified by a system. A set of suchconnections may be referred to as a graph or connection graph stored ina system 122 as connection graph information.

The messaging application server 116 may be responsible for generationand delivery of messages between users of client devices 110. Themessaging application server 116 may utilize any one of a number ofmessage delivery networks and platforms to deliver messages to users.For example, the messaging application server 116 may deliver messagesusing electronic mail (email), instant message (IM), Short MessageService (SMS), text, facsimile, or voice (e.g., Voice over IP (VoIP))messages via wired networks (e.g., the Internet), plain old telephoneservice (POTS), or wireless networks (e.g., mobile, cellular, WIFI, LongTerm Evolution (LTE), or Bluetooth).

FIG. 2 is a block diagram 200 illustrating further details regarding thesystem 100, according to example embodiments. Specifically, the system200 is shown to comprise the messaging client application 114 and theapplication server 112, which in turn embody a number of subsystems,namely an ephemeral timer system 202, a collection management system204, and an annotation system 206.

The ephemeral timer system 202 is responsible for enforcing thetemporary access to content permitted by the messaging clientapplication 114 and the messaging application server 116. To this end,the ephemeral timer system 202 incorporates a number of timers that,based on duration and display parameters associated with a message, orcollection of messages (e.g., otherwise referred to herein as mediacollections, galleries, message collections, stories, and the like),selectively display and enable access to messages and associated contentvia the messaging client application 114.

The collection management system 204 is responsible for managingcollections of media (e.g., collections of text, image, video, and audiodata). In some examples, a collection of content (e.g., messages,including images, video, text, and audio) may be organized into an“event gallery” or an “event story.” Such a collection may be madeavailable for a specified time period, such as the duration of an eventto which the content relates. For example, content relating to a musicconcert may be made available as a “Story” for the duration of thatmusic concert. The collection management system 204 may also beresponsible for publishing an icon that provides notification of theexistence of a particular collection to the user interface of themessaging client application 114.

The collection management system 204 furthermore includes a curationinterface 208 that allows a collection manager to manage and curate aparticular collection of content. For example, the curation interface208 enables an event organizer to curate a collection of contentrelating to a specific event (e.g., delete inappropriate content orredundant messages). Additionally, the collection management system 204employs machine vision (or image recognition technology) and contentrules to automatically curate a content collection. In certainembodiments, compensation (e.g., money, non-money credits or pointsassociated with the messaging system or a third party reward system,travel miles, access to artwork or specialized lenses, etc.) may be paidto a user for inclusion of user-generated content into a collection. Insuch cases, the curation interface 208 operates to automatically makepayments to such users for the use of their content.

The annotation system 206 provides various functions that enable a userto annotate or otherwise modify or edit media content associated with amessage. For example, the annotation system 206 provides functionsrelated to the generation and publishing of media overlays for messagesprocessed by the networked system 100. In one example, the annotationsystem 206 operatively supplies a media overlay (e.g., a filter or mediaaugmentation) to the messaging client application 114 based on ageolocation of the client device 110. In another example, the annotationsystem 206 operatively supplies a media overlay to the messaging clientapplication 114 based on other information, such as social networkinformation of the user of the client device 110. A media overlay mayinclude audio and visual content and visual effects. Examples of audioand visual content include pictures, texts, logos, animations, and soundeffects. An example of a visual effect includes color overlaying. Theaudio and visual content or the visual effects can be applied to a mediacontent item (e.g., a photo) at the client device 110. For example, themedia overlay includes text that can be overlaid on top of a photographtaken by the client device 110. In another example, the media overlayincludes an identification of a location overlay (e.g., Venice Beach), aname of a live event, or a name of a merchant overlay (e.g., BeachCoffee House). In another example, the annotation system 206 uses thegeolocation of the client device 110 to identify a media overlay thatincludes the name of a merchant at the geolocation of the client device110. The media overlay may include other indicia associated with themerchant. The media overlays may be stored in the database 120 andaccessed through the database server 124.

In one example embodiment, the annotation system 206 provides auser-based publication platform that enables users to select ageolocation on a map, and upload content associated with the selectedgeolocation. The user may also specify circumstances under which aparticular media overlay is to be offered to other users. The annotationsystem 206 generates a media overlay that includes the uploaded contentand associates the uploaded content with the selected geolocation.

In another example embodiment, the annotation system 206 provides amerchant-based publication platform that enables merchants to select aparticular media overlay associated with a geolocation via a biddingprocess. For example, the annotation system 206 associates the mediaoverlay of a highest bidding merchant with a corresponding geolocationfor a predefined amount of time.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram 300 illustrating data which may be storedin the database(s) 120 of the server system 108, according to certainexample embodiments. While the content of the database 120 is shown tocomprise a number of tables, it will be appreciated that the data couldbe stored in other types of data structures (e.g., as an object-orienteddatabase).

The database 120 includes message data stored within a message table314. An entity table 302 stores entity data, including an entity graph304. Entities for which records are maintained within the entity table302 may include individuals, corporate entities, organizations, objects,places, events, etc. Regardless of type, any entity regarding which theserver system 108 stores data may be a recognized entity. Each entity isprovided with a unique identifier, as well as an entity type identifier(not shown).

The entity graph 304 furthermore stores information regardingrelationships and associations between entities. Such relationships maybe social, professional (e.g., work at a common corporation ororganization), interested-based, or activity-based, merely for example.A system can suggest additional relationships and associations betweenentities, based on existing relationships and associations, or using anyother such information from databases 120 as described herein.

The database 120 also stores annotation data, in the example form ofmedia overlays or filters, in an annotation table 312. Annotation datamay also be referred to herein as “creative tools” or “interactivefeatures.” Annotation data may comprise predefined messages to beprovided to users.

Media overlays or filters, for which data is stored within theannotation table 312, are associated with and applied to videos (forwhich data is stored in a video table 310) and/or images (for which datais stored in an image table 308). Filters, in one example, are overlaysthat are displayed as overlaid on an image or video during presentationto a recipient user. Filters may be of various types, includinguser-selected filters from a gallery of filters presented to a sendinguser by the messaging client application 114 when the sending user iscomposing a message. Other types of filters include geolocation filters(also known as geo-filters), which may be presented to a sending userbased on geographic location. For example, geolocation filters specificto a neighborhood or special location may be presented within a userinterface by the messaging client application 114, based on geolocationinformation determined by a GPS unit of the client device 110. Anothertype of filter is a data filter, which may be selectively presented to asending user by the messaging client application 114, based on otherinputs or information gathered by the client device 110 during themessage creation process. Examples of data filters include a currenttemperature at a specific location, a current speed at which a sendinguser is traveling, a battery life for a client device 110, or thecurrent time.

Other annotation data that may be stored within the annotation table 312is so-called “lens” data. A “lens” may be a real-time special effect andsound that may be added to an image or a video.

As mentioned above, the video table 310 stores video data which, in oneembodiment, is associated with messages for which records are maintainedwithin the message table 314. Similarly, the image table 308 storesimage data associated with messages for which message data is stored inthe message table 314. The entity table 302 may associate variousannotations from the annotation table 312 with various images and videosstored in the image table 308 and the video table 310.

A story table 306 stores data regarding collections of messages andassociated image, video, or audio data, which are compiled into acollection (e.g., a story, gallery, or media collection). The creationof a particular collection may be initiated by a particular user (e.g.,any user for whom a record is maintained in the entity table 302). Auser may create a “personal story” in the form of a collection ofcontent that has been created and sent/broadcast by that user. To thisend, the user interface of the messaging client application 114 mayinclude an icon that is user-selectable to enable a sending user to addspecific content to his or her personal story.

A media or message collection may also constitute a “live story,” whichis a collection of content from multiple users that is created manually,automatically, or using a combination of manual and automatictechniques. For example, a “live story” may constitute a curated streamof user-submitted content from various locations and events. Users whoseclient devices 110 have location services enabled and are at a commonevent location at a particular time may, for example, be presented withan option, via a user interface of the messaging client application 114,to contribute content to a particular live story. The live story may beidentified to the user by the messaging client application 114, based onhis or her location. The end result is a “live story” told from acommunity perspective.

A further type of content collection is known as a “location story,”which enables a user whose client device 110 is located within aspecific geographic location (e.g., on a college or university campus)to contribute to a particular collection. In some embodiments, acontribution to a location story may require a second degree ofauthentication to verify that the end user belongs to a specificorganization or other entity (e.g., is a student on the universitycampus).

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating a structure of a message 400,according to some embodiments, generated by a client application 114 forcommunication to a further client application 114 or the messagingapplication server 116. The content of a particular message 400 is usedto populate the message table 314 stored within the database 120,accessible by the messaging application server 116. Similarly, thecontent of a message 400 is stored in memory as “in-transit” or“in-flight” data of the client device 110 or the application server 112.The message 400 is shown to include the following components:

-   -   A message identifier 402: a unique identifier that identifies        the message 400.    -   A message text payload 404: text, to be generated by a user via        a user interface of the client device 110 and that is included        in the message 400.    -   A message image payload 406: image data, captured by a camera        component of a client device 110 or retrieved from memory of a        client device 110, and that is included in the message 400.    -   A message video payload 408: video data, captured by a camera        component or retrieved from a memory component of the client        device 110 and that is included in the message 400.    -   A message audio payload 410: audio data, captured by a        microphone or retrieved from the memory component of the client        device 110, and that is included in the message 400.    -   A message annotations 412: annotation data (e.g., media overlays        such as filters, stickers, or other enhancements) that        represents annotations to be applied to the message image        payload 406, message video payload 408, or message audio payload        410 of the message 400.    -   A message duration parameter 414: a parameter value indicating,        in seconds, the amount of time for which content of the message        400 (e.g., the message image payload 406, message video payload        408, message audio payload 410) is to be presented or made        accessible to a user via the messaging client application 114.    -   A message geolocation parameter 416: geolocation data (e.g.,        latitudinal and longitudinal coordinates) associated with the        content payload of the message 400. Multiple message geolocation        parameter 416 values may be included in the payload, each of        these parameter values being associated with respect to content        items included in the content (e.g., a specific image within the        message image payload 406, or a specific video in the message        video payload 408).    -   A message story identifier 418: identifier values identifying        one or more content collections (e.g., “stories”) with which a        particular content item in the message image payload 406 of the        message 400 is associated. For example, multiple images within        the message image payload 406 may each be associated with        multiple content collections using identifier values.    -   A message tag 420: each message 400 may be tagged with multiple        tags, each of which is indicative of the subject matter of        content included in the message payload. For example, where a        particular image included in the message image payload 406        depicts an animal (e.g., a lion), a tag value may be included        within the message tag 420 that is indicative of the relevant        animal. Tag values may be generated manually, based on user        input, or may be automatically generated using, for example,        image recognition.    -   A message sender identifier 422: an identifier (e.g., a        messaging system identifier, email address, or device        identifier) indicative of a user of the client device 110 on        which the message 400 was generated and from which the message        400 was sent.    -   A message receiver identifier 424: an identifier (e.g., a        messaging system identifier, email address, or device        identifier) indicative of a user of the client device 110 to        which the message 400 is addressed.

The contents (e.g., values) of the various components of the message 400may be pointers to locations in tables within which content data valuesare stored. For example, an image value in the message image payload 406may be a pointer to (or address of) a location within an image table308. Similarly, values within the message video payload 408 may point todata stored within a video table 310, values stored within the messageannotations 412 may point to data stored in an annotation table 312,values stored within the message story identifier 418 may point to datastored in a story table 306, and values stored within the message senderidentifier 422 and the message receiver identifier 424 may point to userrecords stored within an entity table 302.

Users of a network may be presented with various interfaces toillustrate a user's connections and to assist a user with creating newconnections. FIGS. 5A and 5B illustrates an example user interface forconnections that a first user account has with multiple other useraccounts, enabling simple communication actions with user accountsconnected to the first user account. In order to simplify creation ofsuch connections, a system may recommend connections to the first userbased on existing connections between accounts connected to the firstuser and additional accounts.

FIG. 5A illustrates aspects of an example graphical user interfaces,according to some example embodiments. FIG. 5A shows user interface 500,which includes header 510 as well as content feed 520. Content feed 520includes suggestion cell 522 and interactive content cells 524 and 526.User interface 500 is associated with a first user account and a displayon the first user's device. Each of the cells 522, 524, and 526 are alsoassociated with user accounts. Interactive content cells 524 and 526 areassociated with accounts having a preexisting relationship with thefirst user account. The information in content cells 524 withininterface 500 may identify how recently a message was sent, the type ofcontent in the various messages linked to by the cell, an icon orgraphic representative of the corresponding user account associated withthe cell, or any other such information. Suggestion cell 522, bycontrast, is associated with a user account not having a preexistingrelationship with the first user account within the system. In theparticular embodiment of FIG. 5A, the user account associated with cell522 has just been created, and cell 522 includes information to thateffect. Selecting cell 522 may lead to a linked interface, shown as userinterface 550.

FIG. 5B illustrates aspects of an example graphical user interfaces,according to some example embodiments. The interface 550, which isassociated with suggestion cell 522, includes header 560 identifying theaccount associated with cell 522. It also includes field 580 withinformation cell 570, hit target 582 which is an interface area forignoring the suggested connection, and hit target 584, which is aninterface area for accepting the suggested connection.

FIG. 6 illustrates an example user interface 600 allowing quickconnections between users, or enabling a quick request of connections.User interface 600 includes a search area 602 which allows a user tosearch for specific user accounts within the system, as well as friendsuggestions 604 and initiate connection interfaces 606. For example, thefirst user may have a connection with Jennifer Weber, but no connectionwith Gelly Acosta, whereas Jennifer Weber has a connection with bothGelly Acosta and the first user. Based on this, the account for GellyAcosta may be placed on a friend suggestion list for the first useraccount. The above suggestion may be considered a “two-hop” suggestion,since within a graph, the account for Gelly Acosta is two connectionsaway from the first user account. If the account for Gelly Acosta isconnected with an account for Grace Howell, but the account for GraceHowell is not connected with either the first user account or theJennifer Weber account, then the Grace Howell account is considered a“three-hop” suggestion, since the shortest path between the first useraccount and the Grace Howell account in the graph is three hops. A graphmay contain users with large numbers of hops between them. In general,the fewer the number of hops from a first user to a suggestedconnection, the higher quality this suggestion is considered to be. Insome embodiments, additional metrics may be used to sort amongconnections to identify higher and lower quality suggestions,essentially ranking connection suggestions. Such suggestions may bebased on message content, frequency of system use, or other suchoptions, depending on privacy settings and configurations for a system.

The user of a tool by the system to suggest connections based on thenumber of hops between users allows attackers to use this tool to gathersocial graph information. For privacy reasons, certain users may notwish to share information on their connections, and the suggestion toolhas the potential to reveal some of the users connection information. Insome embodiments, this may be directly addressed by allowing a user toopt-out of the suggested connection system. Some users, however, willeither not consider or use such an option, or may wish to maintain someprivacy while still allowing use of a suggestion tool with theiraccount. Embodiments describe herein use a system with noisy hopsuggestions to prevent simple determination of an accounts connectionand to prevent large-scale leakage of graph information through aconnection suggestion feature. This prevents direct inference offriend-lists of friends, and expands on the number of connectionsuggestions that may be displayed to certain users.

Embodiments described herein thus present connection suggestion invarious ways. In one embodiment, a threshold percentage of suggestionsuses the highest quality connection suggestions (e.g. two-hopconnections), while the remaining suggestions use lower qualityconnection suggestions (e.g. 3 or more hop connections). In some suchembodiments, when a user only has one friend, then only lower qualityconnections are suggested to prevent direct inference of the connectionsof that one friend. Further, the lower quality connections may be fixedfor an account, to prevent the lower quality connections from beingidentified as they change while the higher quality connectionrecommendations remain stable. Further, in some embodiments, a minimumof one lower quality connection will be added with higher qualityconnections to ensure that some uncertainty is present in the connectionrecommendations, regardless of other thresholds. In some embodiments, anoverall noise level (e.g. a percentage of lower quality suggestions) ismaintained as a suggestion list is refreshed.

Further still, in some embodiments, a threshold check may be performedto verify that a user is not expected to be an attacker before anyconnection suggestions are provided. This may include additional limits,such as a time threshold after account creation before suggestions areprovided, or other threshold limits. In some systems, it has beenidentified that malicious attacking accounts act together in actionsthat are somewhat synchronized. In some embodiments, a system mayanalyze account actions for synchronization with other accounts in afashion that is associated with attacks on a system, regardless ofwhether an actual attack is identified. This may be combined with newaccount time limits or other limits on connection suggestion systems.During an analysis time period, a system is analyzed to identifysynchronization between accounts that may be associated with collectionsof fake or compromised accounts used by attackers, and when suchaccounts are identified, connection suggestion systems may be altered toincrease the number of lower quality suggestions, or to refuse toprovide connection suggestions to the identified accounts. In somesystems, this may automatically engage an out-out toggle for theconnection recommendation system, and require additional verification orother procedures before an account holder is allowed to re-engage theconnection recommendation system for the account. Similarly, otherthresholds may be implemented for an account, such as increasing aminimum number of connections before a connection recommendation systemmay be used with the account.

FIGS. 7 and 8 illustrate simple social graphs 700 and 800 withconnections between entities (e.g. user accounts associated with nodes702-720 and user accounts associated with nodes 802-810) that describeattack operations that may be addressed, at least in part, by variousembodiments. As described above, given systems where connections aresuggested to user accounts, various attacks may be used to derive graphinformation. FIG. 7 illustrates a simple graph with two attacker useraccounts, shown as “Helper” node 702 and “Alice” node 704, bothconnected to an account for “Raj” node 706. An attacker with twoaccounts having different sets of friends with only “Raj” node 706 asthe friend in common allows the two attacker accounts to infer theconnections of the “Raj” node 706 account by taking the intersection ofrecommendations seen by the Alice node 704 and Helper node 702 accounts.In a simple system where only two-hop (e.g. from node 702 to nodes 710or from note 702 to nodes 712) accounts are suggested, this allows foran accurate collection of the Raj node 706 account connections by Alicenode 704 and Helper node 702 using the described differencing attack.Some systems may thus require accounts in these circumstances to befriends before providing both accounts with suggestions based on ashared connection. In some systems, connection suggestions may identifysuch circumstances, and modify suggested connections to prevent theintersection from being viewed, by adjusting the connection suggestionsin various ways. For example, certain three-hop node (e.g. from node 702to nodes 720 or from node 704 to nodes 720) suggestions can be used, toobscure the connections between Raj node 706 and the nodes 710 and 712directly connected to Raj node 706. By suggesting a subset of the nodes720 not directly connected to Raj node 706, information provided by adifferencing attack by nodes 702 and 704 on Raj node 706 is obscured.

Similarly, FIG. 8 describes a friend of a friend attack, where Alicenode 804 and the Helper node 802 accounts are attacking to discoverconnections to Bob node 806 (e.g. for nodes describing entity tables orrelationships between accounts in a social networking system). In such asimple attack, the Helper node 802 account may be created in conjunctionwith the Alice node 804 account specifically for the purposed ofidentifying Bob node 806 connections. When the Helper node 802 accountis created, the Alice node 804 account is added as the only connection.For systems with noisy added recommendations and no further limits, theautomatic connection suggestions will contain connections to the Alice804 node (e.g. only the Bob node 806), and a subset of accounts 810connected to the Bob node 806 account selected as noisy/lower qualitysuggestions. This may enable the Helper node 802 account to identify asubset of connections to the Bob node 806 depending on the particularconnections if Alice node 804 is connected to nodes other than the Bobnode 806. Similar to the differencing attack described above for FIG. 7, a system may limit the number of connection suggestions in a varietyof ways described herein to prevent information on the Bob node 806accounts suggestions from being clear. This may include limits onconnection suggestions based on the low number of the Helper account'sconnections, adjusting or randomizing connection suggestions based onthe complexity of the two-hop and three-hop connections (or more hopsdepending on the system) for the Alice account, adjusting timing limitson connection suggestions, adjusting percentages of higher and lowerquality suggestions, or other such changes to the connection suggestionsoffered to both the Alice and Helper accounts.

FIG. 9 illustrates an example method 900 performed by a device as partof a social network system described herein. In some embodiments, themethod 900 of FIG. 9 may be implemented by one or more processors of adevice or an apparatus of any machine described herein. In otherembodiments, the method 300 may be implemented as computer-readableinstructions in a storage medium that, when executed by one or moreprocessors of a device, cause the device to perform the method 900.

Method 900 involves operation 902 of accessing connection graphinformation for a plurality of user accounts in a system. In operation904, the system continues by identifying a first set of connectionsuggestions based on a first set of suggestion metrics (e.g. two-hopconnections, usage characteristics, profile match, etc.) The second setof connection suggestions based on a second set of suggestion metrics(e.g. metrics different than the first set of metrics) are identified inoperation 906. In various embodiments, the second set of connectionsuggestions and the second set of suggestion metrics are configured toobscure the first set of connection suggestions (e.g. by providingdifferent metrics and making it difficult to infer information ormetrics from the provided final set of connection suggestions). The inoperation 908 the system continues by generating the set of suggestedconnections based on the first set of connection suggestions and thesecond set of connection suggestions, and further continues in operation910 by initiating communication of the set of connection suggestions toa device associated with the first account.

In some embodiments, the first set of suggestion metrics comprises a2-hop connection metric. In some embodiments, the second set ofsuggestion metrics comprises a three or more hop connection requirement.In some embodiments, the first set of suggestion metrics comprises a setof high quality connection metrics and the second set of suggestionmetrics comprises a set of low quality connection requirements. Somesuch systems may operate where the set of suggested connections containsa minimum number of connection suggestions from the second set ofconnection suggestions or where the set of suggested connectionscontains a threshold percentage of connection suggestions from thesecond set of connection suggestions.

In some embodiments, a threshold number of high quality suggestions(e.g. a low number of connection hops between nodes) is used for aninitial set of suggestions, and a corresponding amount of low qualitysuggestions (e.g. higher numbers of connection hops) are used. Overtime, the number of high-quality suggestions is increased, and thenumber of low quality suggestions is decreased. In some embodiments, thepercentage of high and low quality recommendations in an initialrecommendation set is randomized within set parameters (e.g. between 30and 60 percent high quality recommendations). In some embodiments, thepercentage of high quality recommendations also changes randomly toprevent tracking and associated differencing attacks based on knowledgeof the set parameters and changes made by a connection suggestionsystem. Some systems bay inserts a random number of low qualityrecommendations within a threshold amount (e.g. less than 30% havingthree or more hops), or a fixed number of recommendations having setcharacteristics (e.g. at least one suggestion having three hops and atleast one suggestion having four hops).

In some embodiments, a scoring analysis is done on possible accountconnections to determine that a relationship meets criteria for a highquality recommendation. In some embodiments, such a high qualitysuggestion determinations is presented based on a new content quick addsuggestion or a connection add score generated by analyzing allinformation in a system, including affinity information, user providednon-private characteristic information, or other such informationdesignated as not being private by a user. In some such embodiments, asystem may determine options for potential connections with other users,and the user associated with the high quality suggestions may beselected from the top percentage (e.g. 25%, 10%, etc.) of potential useraccounts, or may be based on the potential user account match beingabove a threshold.

In some embodiments, as described above, the creation of a high qualitysuggestion may be based on a computed analysis, or score, associatedwith an expected connection between two user accounts. Additionally,such high quality suggestions can be based the number of connectionsbetween a user account and other accounts in the system, such that thegreater the number of connections, the more likely the suggestion toconnect with that account as a high quality suggestion. Limitingconnections for new accounts to high quality suggestions which havelarge numbers of existing connections also limits differentiationattacks. For example, if a new user is provided a maximum of eightconnection suggestions, the connection suggestions can be limited tobeing based only on connections with existing users having more than athreshold (e.g. more than eight, more than sixteen, or a certainmultiple of the maximum number of suggestions). By preventing the use ofan account with fewer connections than the number of possible friendsuggestions, a differencing attack on that account is prevented. Forexample, if a new account is connected to a single friend account, andthe friend account only has three existing connections, the friendaccount or information from the friend account (e.g. the three existingconnections) can be blocked from use in providing account suggestions tothe new account. Such a limit can be time based, and during therestricted time, either no connection information is used, or in someembodiments, a minimum number of connection hops (e.g. three or more)can be set to prevent a differencing attack.

In some embodiments, a scoring for generating high quality friendsuggestions are generated by feedback or machine learning to set aquality score. Such systems may use neural networks to extract featuresidentified as preferred or interesting to system users. For example, insome embodiments, user accounts may have preferences selected in asystem, and comparisons with other user accounts to match thosepreferences may be performed. In some systems, a user may elect privacysettings which authorize the system to analyze data from a wide varietyof sources and match that information to expected connections with otherusers of the system. Such data may have features extracted and analyzedusing a feed-forward artificial neural network such as a convolutionalneural network to identify expected desirable connections with otheruser accounts in the system. Feature maps used within such neuralnetworks may be based on any analysis metric described herein, includingboth high quality suggestions for friend associations. In someembodiments, learnable filters may be selected and automatically updatedbased on a database of interaction history for suggestions, again basedon a user's privacy settings. In other embodiments, any other suchsources may be used for learnable filters to generate high and lowquality friend suggestions.

Additionally, as described above, before generating or analyzingpossible connection suggestions, a system may perform an analysis ofsynchronized attack behavior prior to generating the set of suggestedconnections, and to prevent generation of suggested connections foraccounts of the plurality of accounts that are associated withsynchronized attack behavior. Such analysis can involve identifyingcertain connection patterns, such as an account connected to only oneother account, a chain of accounts connected to less than a thresholdnumber of other accounts, a chain of accounts created within a thresholdtime period that are connected to only each other plus less than athreshold number of accounts (e.g. less than two accounts other than thenew accounts, or less than three accounts other than the new accounts).Other embodiments may further limit connection suggestions with systemsto verify a time threshold from account creation has been met beforeinitiating communication of the set of connection suggestions to thedevice associated with the first account.

As described above, one metric limits connection suggestions based onthe low number of one account's current connections (e.g. only oneconnection, less than three connections, less than five connections,etc.). Some embodiments adjust or randomize connection suggestions basedon the complexity of the two-hop and three-hop connections (or more hopsdepending on the system) for a new account, adjust timing limits onconnection suggestions (e.g. suggestions are only made every 24 hours,once a week, etc.), adjusting percentages of higher and lower qualitysuggestions (e.g. with higher quality suggestions based on fewer hopsand other entity table information about shared characteristics betweensystem accounts), or other such changes to the connection suggestionsoffered to new accounts or accounts with low numbers of suggestions(e.g. suggesting popular or celebrity account connections to new or lowconnection accounts, or suggesting connections based on location,affinity group information, or other such information other thanexisting account relationships).

The foregoing description of one or more implementations providesillustration and description, but is not intended to be exhaustive or tolimit the scope of embodiments to the precise form disclosed.Modifications and variations are possible in light of the aboveteachings or may be acquired from practice of various embodiments.

In addition to the above example embodiments, any combination ofoperations or elements described above may be integrated into variousembodiments described herein. Additionally, other example embodimentsmay include any examples described above with the individual operationsor device elements repeated or ordered with intervening elements oroperations in any functional order.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram 1400 illustrating a software architecture1402, which can be installed on any one or more of the devices describedabove. For example, in various embodiments, client devices 110, serversystems 102, 112, 116, 118, 122, and 124 may be implemented using someor all of the elements of the software architecture 1402. FIG. 10 ismerely a non-limiting example of a software architecture, and it will beappreciated that many other architectures can be implemented tofacilitate the functionality described herein. In various embodiments,the software architecture 1402 is implemented by hardware such asmachine 1500 of FIG. 11 that includes processors 1510, memory 1530, andI/O components 1550. In this example, the software architecture 1402 canbe conceptualized as a stack of layers where each layer may provide aparticular functionality. For example, the software architecture 1402includes layers such as an operating system 1404, libraries 1406,frameworks 1408, and applications 1410. Operationally, the applications1410 invoke API calls 1412 through the software stack and receivemessages 1414 in response to the API calls 1412, consistent with someembodiments.

In various implementations, the operating system 1404 manages hardwareresources and provides common services. The operating system 1404includes, for example, a kernel 1420, services 1422, and drivers 1424.The kernel 1420 acts as an abstraction layer between the hardware andthe other software layers, consistent with some embodiments. Forexample, the kernel 1420 provides memory management, processormanagement (e.g., scheduling), component management, networking, andsecurity settings, among other functionality. The services 1422 canprovide other common services for the other software layers. The drivers1424 are responsible for controlling or interfacing with the underlyinghardware, according to some embodiments. For instance, the drivers 1424can include display drivers, camera drivers, BLUETOOTH® or BLUETOOTH®Low Energy drivers, flash memory drivers, serial communication drivers(e.g., Universal Serial Bus (USB) drivers), WI-FI® drivers, audiodrivers, power management drivers, and so forth.

In some embodiments, the libraries 1406 provide a low-level commoninfrastructure utilized by the applications 1410. The libraries 1406 caninclude system libraries 1430 (e.g., C standard library) that canprovide functions such as memory allocation functions, stringmanipulation functions, mathematic functions, and the like. In addition,the libraries 1406 can include API libraries 1432 such as medialibraries (e.g., libraries to support presentation and manipulation ofvarious media formats such as Moving Picture Experts Group-4 (MPEG4),Advanced Video Coding (H.264 or AVC), Moving Picture Experts GroupLayer-3 (MP3), Advanced Audio Coding (AAC), Adaptive Multi-Rate (AMR)audio codec, Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG or JPG), or PortableNetwork Graphics (PNG)), graphics libraries (e.g., an OpenGL frameworkused to render in two dimensions (2D) and in three dimensions (3D)graphic content on a display), database libraries (e.g., SQLite toprovide various relational database functions), web libraries (e.g.,WebKit to provide web browsing functionality), and the like. Thelibraries 1406 can also include a wide variety of other libraries 1434to provide many other APIs to the applications 1410.

The frameworks 1408 provide a high-level common infrastructure that canbe utilized by the applications 1410, according to some embodiments. Forexample, the frameworks 1408 provide various graphic user interface(GUI) functions, high-level resource management, high-level locationservices, and so forth. The frameworks 1408 can provide a broad spectrumof other APIs that can be utilized by the applications 1410, some ofwhich may be specific to a particular operating system 1404 or platform.

In an example embodiment, the applications 1410 include a homeapplication 1450, a contacts application 1452, a browser application1454, a book reader application 1456, a location application 1458, amedia application 1460, a messaging application 1462, a game application1464, and a broad assortment of other applications such as a third partyapplication 1466. According to some embodiments, the applications 1410are programs that execute functions defined in the programs. Variousprogramming languages can be employed to create one or more of theapplications 1410, structured in a variety of manners, such asobject-oriented programming languages (e.g., Objective-C, Java, or C++)or procedural programming languages (e.g., C or assembly language). In aspecific example, the third party application 1466 (e.g., an applicationdeveloped using the ANDROID™ or IOS™ software development kit (SDK) byan entity other than the vendor of the particular platform) may bemobile software running on a mobile operating system such as IOS™,ANDROID™, WINDOWS® Phone, or another mobile operating system. In thisexample, the third party application 1466 can invoke the API calls 1412provided by the operating system 1404 to facilitate functionalitydescribed herein.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram illustrating components of a machine 1500,according to some embodiments, able to read instructions from amachine-readable medium (e.g., a machine-readable storage medium) andperform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein.Specifically, FIG. 11 shows a diagrammatic representation of the machine1500 in the example form of a computer system, within which instructions1516 (e.g., software, a program, an application, an applet, an app, orother executable code) for causing the machine 1500 to perform any oneor more of the methodologies discussed herein can be executed. Inalternative embodiments, the machine 1500 operates as a standalonedevice or can be coupled (e.g., networked) to other machines. In anetworked deployment, the machine 1500 may operate in the capacity of aserver machine 102, 112, 116, 118, 122, 124, and the like, or a clientdevice 110 in a server-client network environment, or as a peer machinein a peer-to-peer (or distributed) network environment. The machine 1500can comprise, but not be limited to, a server computer, a clientcomputer, a personal computer (PC), a tablet computer, a laptopcomputer, a netbook, a personal digital assistant (PDA), anentertainment media system, a cellular telephone, a smart phone, amobile device, a wearable device (e.g., a smart watch), a smart homedevice (e.g., a smart appliance), other smart devices, a web appliance,a network router, a network switch, a network bridge, or any machinecapable of executing the instructions 1516, sequentially or otherwise,that specify actions to be taken by the machine 1500. Further, whileonly a single machine 1500 is illustrated, the term “machine” shall alsobe taken to include a collection of machines 1500 that individually orjointly execute the instructions 1516 to perform any one or more of themethodologies discussed herein.

In various embodiments, the machine 1500 comprises processors 1510,memory 1530, and I/O components 1550, which can be configured tocommunicate with each other via a bus 1502. In an example embodiment,the processors 1510 (e.g., a central processing unit (CPU), a reducedinstruction set computing (RISC) processor, a complex instruction setcomputing (CISC) processor, a graphics processing unit (GPU), a digitalsignal processor (DSP), an application specific integrated circuit(ASIC), a radio-frequency integrated circuit (RFIC), another processor,or any suitable combination thereof) include, for example, a processor1512 and a processor 1514 that may execute the instructions 1516. Theterm “processor” is intended to include multi-core processors 1510 thatmay comprise two or more independent processors 1512, 1514 (alsoreferred to as “cores”) that can execute instructions 1516contemporaneously. Although FIG. 11 shows multiple processors 1510, themachine 1500 may include a single processor 1510 with a single core, asingle processor 1510 with multiple cores (e.g., a multi-core processor1510), multiple processors 1512, 1514 with a single core, multipleprocessors 1512, 1514 with multiple cores, or any combination thereof.

The memory 1530 comprises a main memory 1532, a static memory 1534, anda storage unit 1536 accessible to the processors 1510 via the bus 1502,according to some embodiments. The storage unit 1536 can include amachine-readable medium 1518 on which are stored the instructions 1516embodying any one or more of the methodologies or functions describedherein. The instructions 1516 can also reside, completely or at leastpartially, within the main memory 1532, within the static memory 1534,within at least one of the processors 1510 (e.g., within the processor'scache memory), or any suitable combination thereof, during executionthereof by the machine 1500. Accordingly, in various embodiments, themain memory 1532, the static memory 1534, and the processors 1510 areconsidered machine-readable media 1518.

As used herein, the term “memory” refers to a machine-readable medium1518 able to store data temporarily or permanently and may be taken toinclude, but not be limited to, random-access memory (RAM), read-onlymemory (ROM), buffer memory, flash memory, and cache memory. While themachine-readable medium 1518 is shown, in an example embodiment, to be asingle medium, the term “machine-readable medium” should be taken toinclude a single medium or multiple media (e.g., a centralized ordistributed database, or associated caches and servers) able to storethe instructions 1516. The term “machine-readable medium” shall also betaken to include any medium, or combination of multiple media, that iscapable of storing instructions (e.g., instructions 1516) for executionby a machine (e.g., machine 1500), such that the instructions 1516, whenexecuted by one or more processors of the machine 1500 (e.g., processors1510), cause the machine 1500 to perform any one or more of themethodologies described herein. Accordingly, a “machine-readable medium”refers to a single storage apparatus or device, as well as “cloud-based”storage systems or storage networks that include multiple storageapparatus or devices. The term “machine-readable medium” shallaccordingly be taken to include, but not be limited to, one or more datarepositories in the form of a solid-state memory (e.g., flash memory),an optical medium, a magnetic medium, other non-volatile memory (e.g.,erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM)), or any suitablecombination thereof. The term “machine-readable medium” specificallyexcludes non-statutory signals per se.

The I/O components 1550 include a wide variety of components to receiveinput, provide output, produce output, transmit information, exchangeinformation, capture measurements, and so on. In general, it will beappreciated that the I/O components 1550 can include many othercomponents that are not shown in FIG. 11 . The I/O components 1550 aregrouped according to functionality merely for simplifying the followingdiscussion, and the grouping is in no way limiting. In various exampleembodiments, the I/O components 1550 include output components 1552 andinput components 1554. The output components 1552 include visualcomponents (e.g., a display such as a plasma display panel (PDP), alight emitting diode (LED) display, a liquid crystal display (LCD), aprojector, or a cathode ray tube (CRT)), acoustic components (e.g.,speakers), haptic components (e.g., a vibratory motor), other signalgenerators, and so forth. The input components 1554 include alphanumericinput components (e.g., a keyboard, a touch screen configured to receivealphanumeric input, a photo-optical keyboard, or other alphanumericinput components), point-based input components (e.g., a mouse, atouchpad, a trackball, a joystick, a motion sensor, or other pointinginstruments), tactile input components (e.g., a physical button, a touchscreen that provides location and force of touches or touch gestures, orother tactile input components), audio input components (e.g., amicrophone), and the like.

In some further example embodiments, the I/O components 1550 includebiometric components 1556, motion components 1558, environmentalcomponents 1560, or position components 1562, among a wide array ofother components. For example, the biometric components 1556 includecomponents to detect expressions (e.g., hand expressions, facialexpressions, vocal expressions, body gestures, or eye tracking), measurebiosignals (e.g., blood pressure, heart rate, body temperature,perspiration, or brain waves), identify a person (e.g., voiceidentification, retinal identification, facial identification,fingerprint identification, or electroencephalogram basedidentification), and the like. The motion components 1558 includeacceleration sensor components (e.g., accelerometer), gravitation sensorcomponents, rotation sensor components (e.g., gyroscope), and so forth.The environmental components 1560 include, for example, illuminationsensor components (e.g., photometer), temperature sensor components(e.g., one or more thermometers that detect ambient temperature),humidity sensor components, pressure sensor components (e.g.,barometer), acoustic sensor components (e.g., one or more microphonesthat detect background noise), proximity sensor components (e.g.,infrared sensors that detect nearby objects), gas sensor components(e.g., machine olfaction detection sensors, gas detection sensors todetect concentrations of hazardous gases for safety or to measurepollutants in the atmosphere), or other components that may provideindications, measurements, or signals corresponding to a surroundingphysical environment. The position components 1562 include locationsensor components (e.g., a Global Positioning System (GPS) receivercomponent), altitude sensor components (e.g., altimeters or barometersthat detect air pressure from which altitude may be derived),orientation sensor components (e.g., magnetometers), and the like.

Communication can be implemented using a wide variety of technologies.The I/O components 1550 may include communication components 1564operable to couple the machine 1500 to a network 1580 or devices 1570via a coupling 1582 and a coupling 1572, respectively. For example, thecommunication components 1564 include a network interface component oranother suitable device to interface with the network 1580. In furtherexamples, communication components 1564 include wired communicationcomponents, wireless communication components, cellular communicationcomponents, near field communication (NFC) components, BLUETOOTH®components (e.g., BLUETOOTH® Low Energy), WI-FI® components, and othercommunication components to provide communication via other modalities.The devices 1570 may be another machine 1500 or any of a wide variety ofperipheral devices (e.g., a peripheral device coupled via a UniversalSerial Bus (USB)).

Moreover, in some embodiments, the communication components 1564 detectidentifiers or include components operable to detect identifiers. Forexample, the communication components 1564 include radio frequencyidentification (RFID) tag reader components, NFC smart tag detectioncomponents, optical reader components (e.g., an optical sensor to detecta one-dimensional bar codes such as a Universal Product Code (UPC) barcode, multi-dimensional bar codes such as a Quick Response (QR) code,Aztec Code, Data Matrix, Dataglyph, MaxiCode, PDF417, Ultra Code,Uniform Commercial Code Reduced Space Symbology (UCC RSS)-2D bar codes,and other optical codes), acoustic detection components (e.g.,microphones to identify tagged audio signals), or any suitablecombination thereof. In addition, a variety of information can bederived via the communication components 1564, such as location viaInternet Protocol (IP) geolocation, location via WI-FI® signaltriangulation, location via detecting a BLUETOOTH® or NFC beacon signalthat may indicate a particular location, and so forth.

In various example embodiments, one or more portions of the network 1580can be an ad hoc network, an intranet, an extranet, a virtual privatenetwork (VPN), a local area network (LAN), a wireless LAN (WLAN), a widearea network (WAN), a wireless WAN (WWAN), a metropolitan area network(MAN), the Internet, a portion of the Internet, a portion of the publicswitched telephone network (PSTN), a plain old telephone service (POTS)network, a cellular telephone network, a wireless network, a WI-FI®network, another type of network, or a combination of two or more suchnetworks. For example, the network 1580 or a portion of the network 1580may include a wireless or cellular network, and the coupling 1582 may bea Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) connection, a Global System forMobile communications (GSM) connection, or another type of cellular orwireless coupling. In this example, the coupling 1582 can implement anyof a variety of types of data transfer technology, such as SingleCarrier Radio Transmission Technology (1×RTT), Evolution-Data Optimized(EVDO) technology, General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) technology,Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE) technology, thirdGeneration Partnership Project (3GPP) including 3G, fourth generationwireless (4G) networks, Universal Mobile Telecommunications System(UMTS), High Speed Packet Access (HSPA), Worldwide Interoperability forMicrowave Access (WiMAX), Long Term Evolution (LTE) standard, othersdefined by various standard-setting organizations, other long rangeprotocols, or other data transfer technology.

In example embodiments, the instructions 1516 are transmitted orreceived over the network 1580 using a transmission medium via a networkinterface device (e.g., a network interface component included in thecommunication components 1564) and utilizing any one of a number ofwell-known transfer protocols (e.g., Hypertext Transfer Protocol(HTTP)). Similarly, in other example embodiments, the instructions 1516are transmitted or received using a transmission medium via the coupling1572 (e.g., a peer-to-peer coupling) to the devices 1570. The term“transmission medium” shall be taken to include any intangible mediumthat is capable of storing, encoding, or carrying the instructions 1516for execution by the machine 1500, and includes digital or analogcommunications signals or other intangible media to facilitatecommunication of such software.

Furthermore, the machine-readable medium 1518 is non-transitory (inother words, not having any transitory signals) in that it does notembody a propagating signal. However, labeling the machine-readablemedium 1518 “non-transitory” should not be construed to mean that themedium is incapable of movement; the medium 1518 should be considered asbeing transportable from one physical location to another. Additionally,since the machine-readable medium 1518 is tangible, the machine-readablemedium 1518 may be considered to be a machine-readable device.

Throughout this specification, plural instances may implementcomponents, operations, or structures described as a single instance.Although individual operations of one or more methods are illustratedand described as separate operations, one or more of the individualoperations may be performed concurrently, and nothing requires that theoperations be performed in the order illustrated. Structures andfunctionality presented as separate components in example configurationsmay be implemented as a combined structure or component. Similarly,structures and functionality presented as a single component may beimplemented as separate components. These and other variations,modifications, additions, and improvements fall within the scope of thesubject matter herein.

Although an overview of the inventive subject matter has been describedwith reference to specific example embodiments, various modificationsand changes may be made to these embodiments without departing from thebroader scope of embodiments of the present disclosure.

The embodiments illustrated herein are described in sufficient detail toenable those skilled in the art to practice the teachings disclosed.Other embodiments may be used and derived therefrom, such thatstructural and logical substitutions and changes may be made withoutdeparting from the scope of this disclosure. The Detailed Description,therefore, is not to be taken in a limiting sense, and the scope ofvarious embodiments is defined only by the appended claims, along withthe full range of equivalents to which such claims are entitled.

As used herein, the term “or” may be construed in either an inclusive orexclusive sense. Moreover, plural instances may be provided forresources, operations, or structures described herein as a singleinstance. Additionally, boundaries between various resources,operations, modules, engines, and data stores are somewhat arbitrary,and particular operations are illustrated in a context of specificillustrative configurations. Other allocations of functionality areenvisioned and may fall within a scope of various embodiments of thepresent disclosure. In general, structures and functionality presentedas separate resources in the example configurations may be implementedas a combined structure or resource. Similarly, structures andfunctionality presented as a single resource may be implemented asseparate resources. These and other variations, modifications,additions, and improvements fall within a scope of embodiments of thepresent disclosure as represented by the appended claims. Thespecification and drawings are, accordingly, to be regarded in anillustrative rather than a restrictive sense.

What is claimed is:
 1. A device comprising: a memory configured to storeconnection graph information for a plurality of user accounts; andprocessing circuitry configured generate a set of suggested connectionsfor a first account of the plurality of user accounts using theconnection graph information by: identifying, by the processingcircuitry, a first set of connection suggestions based on a first set ofsuggestion metrics; identifying, by the processing circuitry, a secondset of connection suggestions based on a second set of suggestionmetrics, wherein the second set of connection suggestions and the secondset of suggestion metrics are configured to obscure the first set ofconnection suggestions; generating, by the processing circuitry, the setof suggested connections based on the first set of connectionsuggestions and the second set of connection suggestions; initiating, bythe processing circuitry, communication of the set of suggestedconnections to a client device associated with the first account; andmodifying, by the processing circuitry and over a period of time, apercentage of the set of suggested connections corresponding to thefirst set of connection suggestions and a percentage of the set ofsuggested connections corresponding to the second set of connectionsuggestions.
 2. The device of claim 1, wherein the processing circuitryis further configured to determine a subset of the plurality of useraccounts having less than a threshold number of connections with otheraccounts of the plurality of user accounts.
 3. The device of claim 1,wherein the first set of suggestion metrics comprises a 2-hop connectionmetric.
 4. The device of claim 3, wherein the second set of suggestionmetrics comprises a three or more hop connection requirement.
 5. Thedevice of claim 1, wherein the percentage of the set of suggestedconnections corresponding to the first set of suggestion metrics isincreased and the percentage of the set of suggested connectionscorresponding to the second set of suggestion metrics is decreased. 6.The device of claim 1, wherein the set of suggested connections containsa minimum number of connection suggestions from the second set ofconnection suggestions.
 7. The device of claim 1, wherein the set ofsuggested connections contains a threshold percentage of connectionsuggestions from the second set of connection suggestions.
 8. The deviceof claim 1, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured toperform an analysis of synchronized attack behavior prior to generatingthe set of suggested connections, and to prevent generation of suggestedconnections for accounts of the plurality of user accounts that areassociated with synchronized attack behavior.
 9. The device of claim 1,wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to verify a timethreshold from account creation has been met before initiatingcommunication of the set of suggested connections to the deviceassociated with the first account.
 10. A method comprising: storing, ina memory of an apparatus, connection graph information for a pluralityof user accounts; identifying, by one or more processors of theapparatus, a first set of connection suggestions based on a first set ofsuggestion metrics; identifying, by the one or more processors of theapparatus, a second set of connection suggestions based on a second setof suggestion metrics, wherein the second set of connection suggestionsand the second set of suggestion metrics are configured to obscure thefirst set of connection suggestions; generating, by the one or moreprocessors of the apparatus, a set of suggested connections based on thefirst set of connection suggestions and the second set of connectionsuggestions; initiating, by the one or more processors of the apparatus,communication of the set of suggested connections to a client deviceassociated with a first user account; and modifying, by the one or moreprocessors of the apparatus and over a period of time, a percentage ofthe set of suggested connections corresponding to the first set ofconnection suggestions and a percentage of the set of suggestedconnections corresponding to the second set of connection suggestions.11. The method of claim 10, wherein the set of suggested connections isgenerated using one or more features maps generated by one or moreconvolutional neural networks.
 12. The method of claim 11, wherein dataanalyzed by the one or more convolutional neural networks is based onprivacy settings of the plurality of user accounts.
 13. The method ofclaim 10, wherein the set of suggested connections contains a minimumnumber of connection suggestions from the second set of connectionsuggestions.
 14. The method of claim 10, wherein the set of suggestedconnections contains a threshold percentage of connection suggestionsfrom the second set of connection suggestions.
 15. The method of claim10, wherein the one or more processors of the apparatus are configuredto perform an analysis of synchronized attack behavior prior togenerating the set of suggested connections, and to prevent generationof suggested connections for accounts of the plurality of user accountsthat are associated with synchronized attack behavior.
 16. The method ofclaim 10, wherein the one or more processors of the apparatus areconfigured to verify a time threshold from account creation has been metbefore initiating communication of the set of suggested connections tothe client device associated with the first user account.
 17. One ormore non-transitory computer readable media comprising instructionsthat, when executed one or more processors of a computing system, causethe computing system to perform operations comprising: storingconnection graph information for a plurality of user accounts;identifying a first set of connection suggestions based on a first setof suggestion metrics; identifying a second set of connectionsuggestions based on a second set of suggestion metrics, wherein thesecond set of connection suggestions and the second set of suggestionmetrics are configured to obscure the first set of connectionsuggestions; generating a set of suggested connections based on thefirst set of connection suggestions and the second set of connectionsuggestions; initiating communication of the set of suggestedconnections to a client device associated with a first user account; andmodifying, over a period of time, a percentage of the set of suggestedconnections corresponding to the first set of connection suggestions anda percentage of the set of suggested connections corresponding to thesecond set of connection suggestions.
 18. The one or more non-transitorycomputer readable media of claim 17, wherein processing circuitry of thecomputing system is configured to verify a time threshold from accountcreation has been met before initiating communication of the set ofsuggested connections to the client device associated with the firstuser account.
 19. The one or more non-transitory computer readable mediaof claim 17, wherein the percentage of the set of suggested connectionscorresponding to the first set of connection suggestions is increasedand the percentage of the set of suggested connections corresponding tothe second set of connection suggestions is decreased.